Portland red light camera upgrade: $681,818 per cam?
We've been brooding some more about that story we noted yesterday -- the one about Portland spending $7.5 million to buy new red light cameras to put up at the 11 intersections where older models of the cameras are currently posted around town. Just doing some simple math, that works out to $681,818 per intersection! How could these contraptions possibly cost so much? The underground sensor thingies are already in place, the poles are already there, the wiring's done, the ticketing process has long since been set up -- how much could the new hardware actually cost?
Supposedly the new cameras are going to take sharper pictures. But is that really necessary? As the folks who have already paid the spendy tickets will tell you, the old ones work pretty well. And as all the rest of us will tell you, the mere presence of these devices brings about a change in driver behavior. Heck, you could post dummy cameras that didn't even work, and it would deter most of us from even thinking about running the light. Just have them flash whenever somebody actually does run the light. The rest of us will never know if a ticket isn't actually issued.
Especially since the city says it makes little money from this program, it's real mystery why the equipment has to be first-class all the way. The contractor, a subsidiary of Xerox, looks pretty greasy. This one really has a strong odor of graft about it. Calling John Kroger! When you get through with the mayor of West Linn, and with Bicycle Rex Burkholder's little white voters pamphlet lies, you might want to turn over this particular rock.
| Posted at 10:24 AM | Permalink |
|
Comments (9)
I wouldn't waste time hoping for the AG to do anything. He appears to be in on the game.
Posted by CJ | April 14, 2010 11:07 AM
So I'm guessing this purchase is a de facto admission from the City that the previous cameras were inadequate to conclusively determine identity, right? Does this mean that anyone who received a ticket from said cameras is entitled to a refund?
Posted by Dave J. | April 14, 2010 11:27 AM
Kroger is so busy setting up his run for governor in 2014 that he doesn't dare offend any of the statewide in crowd in the Democratic party in Portland
Keeping the ultimate inside player MacPherspn out of the AGs chair seemed a good idea at the time, but in retrospect Kroger got far too comfortable far too quickly.
Jim
Posted by Nonny Mouse | April 14, 2010 11:54 AM
ACS is one of biggest companies that you haven't heard about. Primarily focused on government outsourcing, you can almost guarantee that any sort of Medicaid or Medicare enrollment, claim, etc. is handled by them or EDS, which was recently bought by HP.
I really doubt ACS cares about 11 cameras in Portland or that there is some sort of graft going on. People get so excited about the potential of a conspiracy when usually it is just bad decisions being made by folks that shouldn't be in the position to make them.
Posted by othersteve | April 14, 2010 12:37 PM
Maybe I'm doing the math wrong, but wouldn't it be cheaper to not buy the camera, and instead just pay 3 cops for 8 hour shifts to sit on their asses at that intersection instead writing tickets?
I mean, that's half the cost of a single camera, if not less.
Posted by MachineShedFred | April 14, 2010 1:00 PM
Just have red light guns.
Posted by Bark Munster | April 14, 2010 3:59 PM
The Texas A&M study of September 2004 stated that Red Light running would be reduced for a number of reasons including increasing the yellow light interval (provided it does not exceed 5.5 s). You can read the report for yourself at http://tcd.tamu.edu/Documents/0-4196-3.pdf
Yellow light times are reduced to 3 seconds in cities that seem to want to increase revenues through increased red light running. This, of course, makes intersections more dangerous instead of safer.
Posted by MarkH | April 14, 2010 6:17 PM
They are about money not accidents. Look at the 5 studies here.
http://blog.motorists.org/red-light-cameras-increase-accidents-5-studies-that-prove-it/
Posted by pdxmick | April 15, 2010 8:11 AM
I was doing the math on the new Tri-met cameras at $211,000 a piece but this takes the cake!
We need to sign up our city goverment for the same basic financial management class that my kid takes as in high school. Even he can't believe the waste/corruption.
Posted by lie2me | April 15, 2010 10:10 AM